Confessions of an e-book bum

The short story as a promotional tool

Those following my Twitter feed may have noticed a re-tweet yesterday about authors using free short stories as a promotional tool to sell their e-books.

That Tweet reminded me of a recent short story find that I decided to throw into my reviews today, as I wrap up reading a couple of series to be reviewed.

The particular story that it brought to mind was “Toothpick for Two” by Gordon A. Kessler. I found Kessler to be a captivating storyteller with more than a touch of Southern charm. Reading this short was a bit like sitting around a campfire listening to a favorite uncle spin a tale.

There was one twist in the plot that I found to be highly unbelievable and a bit distracting. But upon further reflection, I’ve decided that it just goes to show that there’s no such thing as a little crazy. If an action doesn’t make sense, it doesn’t make sense, whether or not it’s spectacular or only a bit odd. So in the literary world, if you’re trying to capture that sense of insanity, I guess it makes sense to go big or go home.

At the time, I enjoyed the read enough to explore Kessler’s other works on the Kindle. I only found free short stories then, and didn’t “purchase” them but certainly earmarked Kessler in my memory as an author to return to later.

Returning today, I’ve found that several of his full length novels are free, too. They’ll definitely be on my to-read list for a later date and later review.

Some of his other works, “Brainstorm” and the “E Z Knight Report” series, are available for the Kindle Prime Lending Library. And Kessler also offers a nice selection of advice books on topics of interest to writers – from self-publishing to working with editors and agents. More on Kessler and the works he has available can be found on his Amazon author’s page here.

Also, if you’re not already, be sure to follow me on Twitter, where I share even more of my free finds and updates.